Betrayal
by Erendhyl
Summary: Faced with an impossible mission, Sakura must now decide where her loyalties lie. She can obey Danzou’s orders, and kill Uchiha Sasuke. Or knowingly betray her village to save her heart. The clock is ticking. SasuSaku


Betrayal

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. Also, credit goes to Gabzilla for the original idea of the story.**

**Summary:** **Faced with an impossible mission, Sakura must now decide where her loyalties lie. She can obey Danzou's orders, and kill Uchiha Sasuke. Or knowingly betray her village to save her heart. The clock is ticking. SasuSaku**

**Warning: Spoilers for the manga through chapter 451.**

* * *

Soft impressions marred the smooth earth. To a casual observer, the marks would have been virtually invisible. To shinobi on a mission, they were all that was needed. Footprints. Someone had been here. A quick sniff of the air confirmed that person's identity.

Sasuke had been here.

The tracker rose, nodding to indicate their success. Twin red markings adorned his cheeks, almost fang-like in their shape. A set of true fangs protruded over his bottom lip, enlarged human canines that indicated his clan's bond with their animal familiars. Inuzuka Kiba may not have been the best when it came to genjutsu or bookwork, but when it came to dog-like specialties, he was top of the class. In the past three years, his sense of smell had increased, so that it was now stronger than a ninken's. If he said that Uchiha Sasuke had been here, Uchiha Sasuke had been here.

And that was what was making Sakura so afraid.

When she had first been called to the office of the Rokudaime Hokage, she had tried to bury the instinctive resentment that stirred in her heart. It wasn't Danzou's fault that Tsunade was in a coma, and to blame him for obeying the daimyo's orders to take over the leadership position was pure foolishness. As a shinobi, Sakura should be able to push aside her own personal feelings about his appointment and obey him, as the laws required of her.

In retrospect, she probably should have listened to that initial resentment.

The pink-haired kunoichi had not been the only one summoned. When she arrived in Danzou's office, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata had been present as well. She should have known then what the mission would be, but that simple answer had eluded her. So she had stayed, unknowing and foolish, until Danzou had assigned them their mission and it was too late to back out.

Recently, Danzou had granted all Konoha ninja permission to annihilate Uchiha Sasuke as a missing-nin and a threat to the village. For this mission that permission had been reshaped. Instead of a mere request that Sasuke be killed, it had become an order. Three chuunin-level trackers and a medic-nin were not the first choice of most Hokage, but Danzou had appeared to think that they would serve well enough. Bitterly, Sakura couldn't help but wonder if he even thought they had a chance against Sasuke. She had seen with her own eyes the sort of damage Sasuke had caused to Naruto, Yamato, and Sai. Team 8 was talented, she knew, but against someone like the person Sasuke had become, they stood no chance. Against Sasuke's team as well as the Uchiha himself, the mission was practically suicide.

In the world of shinobi, the stakes were often kill or be killed, slay or be slain. Sakura gazed at the team that now stood around her: quiet, mysterious Shino; loud, brash Kiba; and shy, sweet Hinata. They had grown up together, first as Academy students and later genin of Konohagakure. She was not as close to them as she was to Naruto, or Ino, but they were her friends nonetheless. And she couldn't condemn them to death. Were it only her life, she would gladly give it to keep Sasuke safe. But she couldn't ask Team 8 to die as well for a man that they barely knew. It simply wasn't fair.

Sadly, emptily, the pink-haired medic obeyed the orders given to her. Wait while Shino reported what his kikaichu had found. Follow as Hinata lead them in the direction he had indicated. Heal Kiba when he misjudged the distance of a jump and wound up scraping his leg on a sharp branch. Prepare to use her inhuman strength to apprehend the target.

Logically, she knew that Team 8 wouldn't be enjoying this mission any more than she was. They probably loathed the idea of killing a former comrade just as much as she did. But no matter how much they hated the mission, it couldn't compare to how badly she felt.

Sakura wasn't just betraying Sasuke by carrying out this mission. She was betraying herself.

* * *

Their camp that night left the team mere kilometers outside of Konoha. Were a different Hokage in charge, they probably would have simply operated out of the village for the duration of the mission, patrolling the area surrounding the village each day and returning to sleep in their own beds each night. But with Danzou as Hokage, any time away from the village was a blessing. The radical, extremist views of the new Rokudaime were so vastly different from those that had existed under the Godaime that many of the shinobi had _volunteered_ for distant missions, simply for the chance to get away. For those too inexperienced to receive such missions, camping within a kilometer of their own bed was the predominant choice.

Though the day had been long and grueling, full of the precise and difficult business of tracking a target as skilled as Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura found herself unable to get to sleep. At first she blamed the hard ground, then the loud chirping of the crickets, then Kiba and Akamaru's snoring. Eventually though, she was forced to accept that even with these distractions, she should have been able to get to sleep. Shinobi were trained to take advantage of opportunities to rest during all manner of uncomfortable situations. The only one they'd never been trained to sleep through was a broken heart.

Quietly, trying her best not to rouse the sleeping Kiba, Hinata, and Akamaru, Sakura rose from her sleeping bag. Shino, who was taking the first watch, stared at her questioningly.

"I'm just going for a walk," she mouthed to him. He nodded, though whether he was acknowledging her emotional turmoil or simply thought that a walk might tire her enough to finally sleep, she didn't know. You could never tell with Shino.

The trees swallowed up any signs of her team almost as soon as Sakura left the campsite, yet she didn't stop. Even if she fully lost her way in the dense woodlands, the pink-haired kunoichi was not so far from Konoha village that the mountains surrounding it had vanished from her sight. If all her other training failed her, their peaks could be her guide. So she kept walking forward, each step taking her farther and farther away from her team, away from the mission she could not bear to complete.

The woods were lovely, dark and deep, their color faded by the moon's pale light. Immersed in them, it was almost easy to forget that there was anything else to the world. The crater that had once been her home village lay only a few kilometers away, yet here the forest was untouched. Trees as old as the Shodaime Hokage rose around her, stretching their leafy branches towards the endless heavens. Sakura could almost imagine living out here, seeing this breathtaking beauty every night, feeling as though she was the last human in the world. It would be so easy to make that choice, to never return to Konoha.

To never kill Sasuke.

The thought filled her with joy, and yet at the same time with a terrible pain. Unbidden, the faces of those she would leave behind appeared before, painting themselves with perfect clarity before her mind's eye. Naruto, Kakashi, and Tsunade. Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru. Lee, Neji, and Tenten. Shino, Kiba, and Hinata. Gai and Asuma, and Shizune and Kurenai. Sai and Yamato. Her parents. All of them precious to her. All of them beloved.

And yet one final face painted itself before her. Fathomless onyx eyes, as dark as two drops of night and yet holding more warmth in them than night ever could. Hair the color of a raven's feathers, with just the faintest hint of blue in it. Pale, perfect skin. Uchiha Sasuke was without doubt one of the most beautiful men she had ever seen in her life. And yet her love for him was not because of that. The gentleness he would sometimes show when she had hurt herself on a mission, the way he would strive to prevent harm from befalling her or Naruto, the small flashes of humanity he would show that belied his normal frosty demeanor—those things were what had made her truly fall in love with Sasuke. They were why she could never move on, why his face still haunted her mind at night, why even three years later she was still determined to bring him back to the village. Even now, she would give anything to bring him back to the village.

"Even now," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut in an effort to hold back her burning tears. "I'm sorry, Naruto," she murmured, her voice trembling. "But I don't know what to do."

_"I'll bring Sasuke back to Konoha. It's the promise of a lifetime, dattebayo!"_

_"Sakura-chan, I'll definitely keep my promise!"_

_"It feels like you and I are getting closer to Sasuke together…"_

_You said all that to me Naruto, and I believed it. I really thought that you would be able to bring back Sasuke-kun. And I thought that, this time, I would be able to help you. But now… now I'm… I'm just the same as back then. I'm still not able to do anything to help you bring back Sasuke-kun. Naruto, I'm… I'm…_

Her thoughts faded off as she began to cry in truth, holding herself as her body shook with silent sobs. The twenty-fifth shinobi rule forbid ninja to show their emotions, ordering them to slay the feelings in their own heart. As a child, Sakura had written out that rule with pride. Now, she destroyed it once again. Tears flowed like trails of hot flame down her face, dropping one by one onto the earthy forest floor. The stains they left behind looked like spots of blood.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Sakura whispered again. "I'm sorry." Sobs ravaged her body, shaking her from head to toe with the full force of her grief.

"Pathetic."

Sakura spun around in shock, her hand reaching for a kunai. The voice alone had been enough for her to identify the speaker, but the sight of him froze her all the same. Uchiha. Sasuke.

Lounging against a nearby tree was the man that haunted her nightmares and her daydreams. His posture appeared to be relaxed, almost casual, but Sakura's trained eye could tell that this was not the case. His feet were planted in such a way that he would be able to spring to a guard position at a moment's notice, his weight balanced perfectly between them. The sword Orochimaru had given him was unsheathed, held in a hand that could shift itself to a proper battle grip within seconds. Sasuke's famous Sharingan was inactivated at the moment, leaving his eyes the color of obsidian. A smirk adorned his handsome face, as though the sight of her lying there, crying and broken, amused him.

"Wouldn't you agree, Sakura?" he asked her. Coming from any other man, the question would have been a taunt. From Sasuke, it sounded almost genuine.

She whispered something, the sound of it muffled by a sob.

"Sakura…" he began, a faint trace of contempt coloring his voice.

"No!" she cried. "No... It's not… pathetic."

Sasuke stared down at his former teammate, his expression unreadable. Sobs continued to shake the pink-haired girl's frame, forming a stark contrast to her words. Sakura, he knew, was part of the ever-growing number of shinobi that believed that showing your emotions was not the weakness that the rules made it out to be. Sasuke had seen with his own eyes the strength that emotions could grant to Naruto and to those like him. But this, this broken crying? No strength could be gained from something like this.

Even with this thought in mind, Sasuke did not interrupt Sakura's lamentation. Instead he waited as slowly, gradually, her sobs stopped on their own. Only then did he open his mouth to question here once again.

"Why are you here?" Sakura froze again at the words, the last words she wanted to hear. Sasuke was here, right in front of her. And, instead of focusing on that small miracle, she instead had to remember what it was that had brought her here.

"I was given a mission," she answered, biting her lip as more tears threatened to fall. "To kill you."

Apple green eyes sought midnight black ones, searching for some sign, some sort of reaction within them. There was none. Just as Sasuke's eyes were as black as night, they were as empty as the moonless midnight night sky. He closed them slowly, sighing.

"Will you complete your mission?" Sasuke asked. His eyes remained closed, unable to see the world around him. If Sakura wanted to strike, now would be her chance. Before the legendary Sharingan was given a chance to see through her, Sakura had to make her move. Somehow, through all her shock and tears, the kunai she had initially reached for had remained in her hand. If she threw it now, Sasuke would dodge, leaving him open for an attack with her super strength. It might work, if she timed things just right…

"I must," she answered him calmly, evenly. Deceptive calm, Kakashi had called it, the calm before the storm.

Like the lightning of that breaking storm, she struck.

The kunai left her hand in an instant, its path of flight directing it straight at Sasuke's heart. As she had expected, he dodged, swinging back effortlessly as his eyes open, the bloody red of his Sharingan shining within them.

Sakura launched herself forward, calling forth her chakra, focusing its full destructive power into her right hand.

"Haaah!" she cried. Her fist glowed with green light, filled with enough force to smash a boulder to gravel.

Sasuke's eyes flashed, his Sharingan taking in every detail of her attack. With a burst of speed she would previously not have believed possible, Sasuke dodged once again, this time reaching out to catch her forearm as it extended. A burst of Chidori Current shot through her arm, numbing it and causing her to lose the precise control of her chakra required to use her inhuman strength. The glow around her fist died as the feeling fled her arm, leaving it dangling lifelessly beside her.

Blindly Sakura lashed out with her left leg, hoping to force him to release her before he could do any more damage. This blow too Sasuke blocked, but his success was not without its price. The chakra flowing through Sakura's leg had remained under her control just long enough for her kick to carry a part of its inhumanly strong force. Sasuke's leg crumpled, his muscles going instantly slack as they were shaken to their core. The bones around her point of impact shuddered as hairline cracks fissured through them like as spider's web, eliciting a cry of pain from the young Uchiha. Sakura tried to ignore the agonizing twist her sore heart gave at the thought of Sasuke being hurt badly enough to actually scream.

The pink-haired kunoichi took advantage of the temporary weakness in her opponent's guard to twist her captured arm, forcing him to release her. Panting, she leapt back to survey the damage she had dealt.

Sasuke clutched his damaged leg with both arms, his head down. His sword lay, discarded, on the ground beside him. Apart from his initial shout, the nukenin was almost quiet. His pained, irregular panting was the only auditory indication of the agony he must be enduring.

-

Sasuke stared at his all but destroyed leg in shock, still unable to fully comprehend what it was that Sakura had done to him. The pain beat dully at him, like a blow from a hammer muffled by thick cloth. He had always had a high pain threshold, but he knew that the shock accounted for a fair portion of his resistance.

He raised his head, his bloody Sharingan eyes seeking the form of the person who had done this to him. Haruno Sakura. He had been careless, and now he paid the price for it. The Sakura he had known would never have been able to do something like this to him. Not only was she not strong enough as a ninja, but she had always been too kind, too gentle to even consider harming one of her own teammates. When he had heard her crying, it had been that Sakura he had thought of, and that Sakura he had treated her as.

That assessment had been wrong. This Sakura was strong, far stronger than she had been. And yet…

Their eyes met. Sakura's eyes had always been open, always shown people more of what she was thinking than was safe for a shinobi to reveal. For an opponent slightly skilled in the art of reading people, looking into her eyes could glean small hints of her plans, valuable little clues that could hint at her true thoughts.

For an opponent with the Sharingan, reading Sakura's eyes was easier than reading an open book.

Sasuke smirked, closing his eyes once more in amusement. When he opened them again, the rich crimson of the Sharingan had faded, leaving behind their natural deep black.

"What are you doing?!" Sakura demanded, starting forward in bewilderment.

"Stop." His former teammate froze, whether obeying the order or shocked that he would dare try to command her even in a situation where the advantage was so clearly hers, Sasuke wasn't sure.

"Why?!" she cried again.

"You don't want to fight me," he explained calmly.

"That's not true! I will do what is necessary to serve my village—"

"Then kill me," Sasuke cut across her coldly. Her eyes widened, her face paling.

"What?" He smirked at the confusion and fear in her voice.

"You heard what I said. If you are willing to do whatever is necessary to serve your village, then eliminate one of its greatest threats." Taking care not to jostle his injured leg, Sasuke extended his right hand, reaching for the sword he had dropped.

"Fulfill your mission," he ordered, closing his hand on the sword. Sakura started forward once again at the sight of the weapon in his hand, only to freeze in place when he extended it, hilt-first towards her.

"Kill your opponent." He gently placed the hilt in her hand, moving her arm so that the side of the sword kissed his throat. Exerting the smallest pressure, he forced her arm to move the sword the tiniest bit sideways, digging it lightly into his neck and causing a stream of red blood to well up.

"Stop!" Sakura cried, jerking her arm back, away from his neck, flinging the sword away. Her eyes were wide with fright as she panted, her breathing fast and uneven. Sasuke smirked.

"Unless…" he began, "you can't."

Her frightened eyes met his, pleading for an answer. Calmly he stared back at her, watching as her bottle-green eyes filled with tears once more. Only when her eyes dropped and the first sobs began to shake through her did he respond. Coolly, as though he was still her teammate, as though the last three years had not happened, as though he was not the target she had been assigned to kill, Sasuke extended his hand forward, stroking her cheek lightly. Sakura froze for a moment before she leaned into his touch, welcoming it like a child welcomes the return of a mother that's been gone too long. Gently Sasuke pulled her into his arms, holding her lightly against him as she cried. Sakura sniffled, trying her best not to touch his damaged leg as her tears flowed freely once more.

Sasuke threaded his fingers through her hair, holding her close to him as she cried. Soft pink hair tickled the backs of his hands, just like… just like it had, back then.

-~-

_The crescent moon illuminated the night, bathing the scene taking place in bitter, perfect clarity._

_"Don't you leave me!!" Even without seeing her face, the raw pain in Sakura's voice was unmistakable. Sasuke tried without success to ignore the agonized twisting in his heart as the full realization of how much pain he was causing his teammate sunk in. He had left under the cover of night in the hope of protecting her from this kind of painful farewell, and now…_

_"One more step and I'll scream—" That alone he could not allow. Without giving her a chance to protest further, Sasuke performed a quick Shunshin no Jutsu, teleporting himself behind the pink-haired kunoichi._

_"Sakura," he addressed her. "Thank you."_

_She gasped quietly, her body relaxing for the briefest of moments in undisguised relief._

_Sasuke's hand came down on the pressure point at the back of her neck, causing her to fall over unconscious. Before she could hit the cobblestone path, Sasuke had caught her, holding her in his arms. Her soft pink hair ticked the backs of his hands as he carried her to the nearby bench. Ordinarily, it would have annoyed him that her hair was tickling him, but this one time, he almost savored it. Tonight would be the last time he saw Sakura. If Sasuke had harbored any delusions about what his defection would do to his teammates, the conversation he and Sakura had just shared would have destroyed them completely. He knew full well how much pain he was causing Sakura because of his actions this night. It was only right that she cause him a little discomfort in return._

-~-

Sasuke could feel the muscles of his face relax, forming an expression that he had not used in years. Uchiha Sasuke smirked, Uchiha Sasuke grimaced, Uchiha Sasuke glared. But it had been years since Uchiha Sasuke smiled.

"Even after all this time, Sakura… you're still annoying."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Yes, I actually just completed a story for the first time in five months. There are further details on my profile, for those of you that are interested. As always, reviews are more than welcome. If you think this story was absolutely pathetic and I should give up writing, I want to hear that. As long as you have a valid reason. And no, "cuz lyk, u ttly suk" is not a valid reason. **


End file.
